Butterfly Kiss
by Neko-chan -Silvered Tongue
Summary: [Moon Child] KeixSho ... A quiet moment between Kei and Sho: Kei finally comes to realize that Sho is not going to live forever. A bittersweet realization, but still... one touched with love and caring.


Butterfly Kiss

By:  Neko-chan

A/N:  Another "Moon Child" story.  Like I said in my previous story, I enjoy writing for "Moon Child"—I just have to work on story development and characterization.  ^^;;

Dedicated To: Luce ('cause this is an _exceptionally_ late birthday present~)

**WARNING:**  Kei/Sho.  (This means shounen-ai/slash—whichever term you prefer.)  There is _lime_.  Not enough to give this an "R" rating, but enough to make me warn away younger readers.  ^^;;

DISCLAIMER:  "Moon Child" is a Japanese movie that Neko-chan puts no claim to.  HYDE and Gackt are Japanese singers that Neko-chan cannot claim also, as much as she would like to.  Luce belongs to Luce, even though Neko-chan adores her (and Luce's imaginary rabid dog, Bob).  3

*   *   *

Nighttime, when all the world was sleeping….

He pillowed his cheek against Sho's hip, closing his eyes as he did so.  The lights were turned down low, an amber-tinted glow coming from just one small lamp.  Shadows darkened the corners of the small bedroom, pits of obsidian velvet where the creatures of the night lurked and waited.  Kei murmured slightly in apprehension and his arms slid up underneath the light coverlet that lay on top of Sho and himself.  The vampire's arms wrapped around the blue-eyed man's waist, holding him tightly.

"What's wrong, Kei?" Sho asked, voice just a whisper in the intimate room.  The arms around his waist tightened in response.  "Kei….?" Sho asked again, pushing himself up into a sitting position, his back resting comfortably amongst the pillows at the bed's head.  As Sho pulled himself up, Kei slid down his body until his cheek was resting upon Sho's upper thigh.

For the second time, Kei's arms just tightened around Sho's waist in response to the soft inquiry.

"Kei?  What's wrong?  Please tell me."  Delicate hands—hands that belonged more on a pianist than on a con artist, a man whose skin had been stained with blood for a long, long time despite his young age—came down, slowly threading through the blonde hair that belonged to his lover.  The gilded strands parted beneath his expert touch and the blue-eyed man caressed the warm skin that he found, fingertips as light as a butterfly's kiss as he touched Kei.

"I just realized something…."  Lips brushed against Sho's  thigh and the taller man shivered in response.  Kei's eyes fluttered open, dark brown eyes seeming to stare into eternity as he gazed upon one of the shadowed corners of the room.  His head moved slightly more to the side and he bestowed an open-mouthed kiss upon the other man's hipbone.

"What?" was the whispered response.

"How delicate, how fragile you are."  Kei smiled sadly and pushed himself up, putting most of his weight onto one of his elbows.  His head tilted back and he looked into Sho's eyes, his own gaze expressionless.  

Sho frowned, his lips turning downward while a line formed between his eyebrows.  "Kei?  I don't understand; what do you mean?  Why are you talking like this?"

Kei used his other arm, propping himself up even more.  He leaned forward and brushed his lips against Sho's, his kiss just a whisper calling the other man's name.  Sho's eyelashes fluttered down; his hands reached up and softly cupped Kei's face.  The vampire moaned quietly and leaned even closer to Sho, tongue darting out to gently trace Sho's lips.  The blue-eyed man obediently opened his mouth to Kei's silent entreaty, and Kei feasted upon Sho's mouth.  The kiss deepened further. 

Sho had always tasted of cinnamon and honey.

Heartbeats later, Kei finally pulled away.  "You're human, Sho," he said, breath fanning forward to caress Sho's cheek.  "I never really thought about it until just now.  You're human; you'll die and I'll live.  What we have….  This won't last forever.  I should have realized that sooner—I should have _remembered _that sooner.  You'll soon be dead and gone, and I… I'll be left alone.  Again."

Sho's dark blue eyes finally opened.  He looked at Kei, his expression sad.  "Why think about the future, Kei?" he queried softly.  "We live in the now—you taught me that.  Living in the now is the only way _to_ live.  Everything else can be forgotten."

He smiled slightly and reached up, brushing his fingertips against the blonde man's face.  Kei reached up to grasp Sho's hand in his own.  He returned the other man's smile, but said nothing in reply to the statements that the taller man had just made.  What else was there _to _say?  He may have wanted to live in the present with Sho—together, always together—but that was impossible.

One day… one day very, very soon, he would be left alone.  Sho would be dead and that would leave Kei to wander through the rest of his life—_existing_, but never living.  When Sho died, he would die as well.

That fact frightened him.

Kei leaned forward, resting his forehead against Sho's.  His arms slowly trailed over Sho's body, lightly caressing his chest and arms, and finally twined about the taller man's neck.  Looking deep into Sho's eyes, Kei's bittersweet smile softened and he whispered: "I care for you… very much."

Sho wrapped his arms about Kei's waist and brought the much shorter man into a tight hug.  "I love you," he answered simply.

*   *   *

Lights illuminated the darkness of the night, turning the sprawling cityscape into a man-made imitation of the heavens above.  Stars sparkled, winking in and out of existence, and the full moon slowly rose over the horizon, pregnant and glowing with mercurial fire. 

The neon lights from the city of Mallepa shone brightly through the bedroom window.  Kei watched them flicker on and off, a continuous tidal surge of bright colors, while Sho slept peacefully in the bed behind him.  The vampire leaned his head against the window frame, and remembered….

Sho, now a sixteen year old boy, looked up at Kei impatiently.  "Well?" he asked, grinning broadly while his eyes sparkled in mirth.  "Are you gonna show me how or not, Kei?"

Kei looked up from his book and blinked at Sho, not knowing what the young man was asking him.  "What are you talking about?" he finally queried when the blue-eyed boy just continued to look at him expectantly.

A frown was his answer.  "Don't you remember?"

The blonde man finally set his book aside, placing it carefully on the coffee table.  Once that was done, he turned to Sho and gave the boy his full attention.  "If I had remembered, I wouldn't be asking you what you were talking about, now would I?" was the sardonic response.

Sho heaved a long-suffering sigh and plopped down on the floor at Kei's feet.  "I see that your memory is going with your old age," the blue-eyed boy shot back.

"My memory back be going because of my senility, but at least I still have better fashion sense than you ever will," Kei replied easily.  Sho grimaced at the man and Kei smiled in amusement.

The two friends continued to make faces at one another until it finally occurred to Sho that he should get to the point and discuss what he had originally intended to.  The boy cleared his throat and started: "Anyway, I had asked you about this last week.  Song wants me to take her out later on and… well, I'm worried that she might want to be kissed."

Kei raised an eyebrow.  "And how is this a problem, Sho?"

Sho reddened and his eyes abruptly turned downwards, avoiding his friend's gaze.  "I… I don't know how to kiss, Kei," he whispered.  "I was hoping that you'd teach me how."

The older man blinked in surprise, dark brown eyes shocked.  "And how the hell do you expect me to do _that_?" he asked, managed to gurgle out a response past the lump in his throat.

It was then that Sho finally raised his face, looking at Kei straight on.  A strange glow filled his blue eyes and Kei's breath caught in his throat at the look that the young man was giving him.  Sho paused for a moment, assessing Kei's reaction.  Deciding to just go ahead and be frank, he stated: "I was hoping you'd show me."

"_How?_"  Another strangled gurgle.

Sho smiled slightly and leaned closer to Kei.  "By kissing me."

And so Kei had done so, pressing his lips against Sho's in an innocent kiss that tasted of strawberries, and cool zephyrs, and the joyful laughter of friends sharing a special, life-changing moment together.

When Kei pulled away, Sho whispered against his mouth.  The blonde man shivered at the oh-so softly spoken confession: "I love you."

Thunder rumbled in the distance and dark rain clouds slowly came together over the Asian city.  Kei blinked, brought away from his reverie.  The man sleeping in the bed behind him moaned softly and kicked off the thin blanket, in the throes of a nightmare.  Kei watched Sho as he tossed and turned, remembering his own nightmares that plagued him almost nightly.

The song sung under the breath of a man who no longer had lungs.

The fire.

The smell of flesh burning as the sun ate it away, greedy—always greedy—for more.

The way the ocean glowed in the sunlight.

He had forgotten what the sea looked like during the day, had yearned to gaze upon it one last time.  Now… he didn't want to remember, didn't want to recall how he had lost his first real friend.

Goosebumps marched up and down Kei's arms and the shorter man shivered, wrapping his arms about himself to try and get warm.  "I… miss you," he spoke to the night beyond the thin glass window.  "I hadn't thought of how much I would, but… I do.  It hurts."

"Kei?"  The vampire turned around to meet Sho's still sleepy gaze.  "Kei, please… come here.  Come to bed."

As Kei climbed into bed with Sho, molding his body against the taller man, Sho smiled slightly and wrapped his arms around Kei's waist, bringing him closer to his body.  Still smiling that sweet smile, he buried his nose into the top of Kei's head, breathing in his lover's scent.

Jasmine and amber.

Exotic… as Kei truly was.

"Everyone eventually dies," Sho began, murmuring against the top of Kei's head.  Kei's eyelashes fluttered down and he lay against Sho's chest, listening to the drumming beat of Sho's heart.  It was steady, strong.  And that fact comforted the lonely man.  "Everything eventually dies—that's the way that it is.  I know that I'll die someday, Kei.  But… so will you.  It may be a long time from now, but you'll still die.  And, once you're dead, we'll see each other again."

The corners of Kei's lips tilted up.  "And how do you know that, Sho?  This is awfully philosophical—especially for _you_."

Sho laughed and Kei listened to the way that it rumbled through his body; it was a musical sound and one that he had always enjoyed listening to, especially when pressed against Sho's warm skin.  

"I can talk about philosophy… I just chose not to.  Besides, we're usually too busy robbing someone or other to actually get into the heavy discussions, anyway.  And, well… I believe in reincarnation.  The body dies, but the soul lives on.  That's how I know that we'll meet again, Kei.  It might be a long time from now, but we _will_ meet again.  Even if I have to go looking for you for all of the trouble that you've caused me, I'll still go and look for you."

"You were always reckless," Kei murmured to himself, caressing Sho's stomach.  The muscles bunched and contracted beneath the palm of his hand, another thing that he loved about Sho's body.  It responded to his touch and his touch _alone_.

"You always tell me that, Kei," Sho responded, reaching down so that he could intertwine his fingers with Kei's.  He smiled at the image that the hands represented: Light and dark, delicate and strong—opposites that would always be connected in some strange, mystical way.  His grip on Kei's hand tightened for a moment—he would never let go, didn't want to let go, _couldn't_ let go.

Kei squeezed back, laying a soft kiss upon Sho's chest as he did so.

"Kei…?" the blue-eyed man began, his lover's hand still grasped in his own.  His voice lowered, a velvet-coated whisper in the dark of the bedroom.  "Why do you love me?"

Kei smiled and turned his head so that his cheek was pillowed upon Sho's chest, strands of unruly blonde hair falling here and there onto his face.  He looked out at the world through a curtain made of gold.  His answer was simple, but he meant it with all of his heart.  "Because you're my friend."

~Owari~

::End::

A/N:  Second "Moon Child" fic.  *celebrates*  I hope you enjoyed reading this, and… I hope I finally got characterization down.  Yes, I realize that Sho and Kei were particularly _smishy_ (I love that word, don't you? XD) in this fic, but that's because of the type of fic that they were placed in.  Sentimental, bittersweet, and just a little bit sad.  But… happy ending?  ^^;; 

Anyway, I tried to go for several things in this: Sensuality as opposed to sexuality; emotions and true feelings as opposed to psychological and make-your-brain-implode-with-the-conclusions-finally-drawn, and… I just wanted to write something that Luce would enjoy reading.  (Hopefully I was able to accomplish this.)  Another thing, but I also tried to layer this story with several symbols that were repeated and several significant… omissions.  Yes, when it was all said and done, I couldn't help but put in a significant psychological hint to Kei's character.  I'll give you a cookie if you discover what I'm talking about.  D  And, speaking of Luce…  ***SMISH***   =^^=

Peace, love, and all that jazz~  3  


End file.
